tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073991368963140015.post98018432168112116..comments2023-11-05T12:18:27.222+00:00Comments on Labour And Capital: 1968 and all thatTom Powdrillhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05511483398745094803noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073991368963140015.post-56435701819133436642008-05-02T02:34:00.000+00:002008-05-02T02:34:00.000+00:00Don't worry Tom, I'm not talking about armed insur...Don't worry Tom, I'm not talking about armed insurrection!<BR/><BR/>A "shift in the balance of wealth and power towards working people and their families" of the kind historically fought for by people within the Labour party would be regarded as revolutionary - and is the kind of change that is would be an entirely proportional response to the current crises we face.Charlie Markshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12770820928636046622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073991368963140015.post-89399481596980812102008-04-30T23:00:00.000+00:002008-04-30T23:00:00.000+00:00I think you might be in a small minority of the fa...I think you might be in a small minority of the far left though Charlie. Most of the Trots I have met down the years have hardly come to the branch meeting straight from the pit head!<BR/><BR/>I don't get the need for a revolution. Why not just convince the punters of your political programme and get them to vote you in? Also who, apart from the few thousand far left activists, thinks a revolution is a proportinate response to the issues facing the UK? It seems about 100 years out of date.Tom Powdrillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05511483398745094803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4073991368963140015.post-16807521362133801912008-04-30T22:47:00.000+00:002008-04-30T22:47:00.000+00:00I love your mention of "comfortably-off young peep...I love your mention of "comfortably-off young peeps". How I wish I was one of those...<BR/><BR/>My idea of revolution is much like that formerly espoused by the Labour party - "To secure for the workers by hand or by brain the full fruits of their industry and the most equitable distribution thereof that may be possible upon the basis of the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the best obtainable system of popular administration and control of each industry or service."<BR/><BR/>Read Mark Steel's piece in the Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mark-steel/mark-steel-there-was-more-to-1968-than-hippies-and-festivals-818009.html) for a counter-balance:<BR/><BR/>"in May 1968 the French general strike was the biggest to have ever taken place in the world, and started with a mass meeting of car workers. Or maybe the union meeting began, "Brothers, sisters, dudes, hey look at the colours on this carburettor. Those in favour raise your hand." And the strike's demands were five vibes an hour, rising to seven and three-quarters for overtime. Similarly, in the United States the anti-war campaign involved more than the festival at Woodstock. By 1968 the most prominent characters were ex-soldiers who'd been in the war, and the Black Panthers, which eventually caused such disarray in the US army, as one third of soldiers were black and were unenthusiastic about fighting for a country that didn't let them eat at the same table as whites. <BR/><BR/>"The sense of revolt spread to almost every country, so hundreds of Mexicans were gunned down for opposing the regime, and a civil rights movement began in Northern Ireland to challenge the discrimination against Catholics. Then in Czechoslovakia a reforming government was crushed by Russian tanks, and protesters put flowers in the barrels of the soldiers' guns. Even this, while sounding hippyish, would be an ideal way to protest in today's busy time-conscious world, because even if you were too rushed to demonstrate you could send your protest by Interflora.<BR/><BR/>"Yet all this courage and imagination is dismissed by so many, such as one columnist who recently derided the whole movement as "self-loathing twaddle." So Martin Luther King and the protesters in Prague and the French strikers could have stopped themselves getting so worked up if they'd just learned to enjoy a little "me" time. And then the Viet Cong could be laid out one by one, while a shrink said gently, "So when your family owned half an acre of a rice field and shared a mule, and then the mule was napalmed – did this make you angry in any way?""Charlie Markshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12770820928636046622noreply@blogger.com